# Greetings from Nica!



## Champagne InHand (Sep 14, 2015)

Hi everybody, I just wanted you guys to know, I arrived. Pretty painless so far, even traveling with a mixed box of Bolivar PC and Illusione Epernay. Taking the 50 minute drive from the Managua airport to my hostel in Granada was $40, and I could see Volcán Masaya glow some nuclear orange with the steam glowing as well in the distance. So far things are very similar to many poverty stricken areas of Mexico, but everybody is very friendly.

This is the courtyard of my hostel, Casa del Agua, attached to the Grand Francia Hotel, but unbelievable low priced even at $33US per night. It has 3 loft style single beds in my room and clean and comfortable. Luckily it's just partly cloudy today.

The taxi driver, Hector, was cool enough to let me burn an Illusione Epernay Le Petit while driving here.

This is a snap shot of the hostels courtyard. Great coffee here.









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## pwaggs (Jan 10, 2017)

Look beautiful and sounds fun. Have an amazing and safe trip.


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## Chris80 (Sep 19, 2015)

That's so awesome!!


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## UBC03 (Nov 18, 2015)

Glad to hear alls going well..enjoy bro..Be safe


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## Regiampiero (Jan 18, 2013)

Nice! 

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## Kidvegas (Oct 17, 2016)

Glad things are rolling along well. Looking forward to the next update. 


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## SmokeSilent (Nov 27, 2016)

This is just awesome. Safe and savoury travels!


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## Maxh92 (Dec 2, 2016)

Looks beautiful. Enjoy your trip. 


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## Rondo (Sep 9, 2015)

Why didn't I volunteer to Sherpa for you?
Kicking my own azz.


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## talisker10 (Nov 6, 2015)

Enjoy the trip.


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## Cigary (Oct 19, 2007)

Keep us posted with updates and pics...we live vicariously through you ....eh, don't drink the aqua.


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## DSturg369 (Apr 6, 2008)

Yes, many updates please.. And pics.

Enjoy and safe journey friend.


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## SoCal Gunner (Apr 7, 2016)

Cigary said:


> Keep us posted with updates and pics...we live vicariously through you


^This!

Oh, and is it too early to start placing orders for "souvenirs" ? 

Enjoy and keep us up to date.


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## Yukoner (Sep 22, 2016)

Nice, enjoy the weather and hopefully we get to see lots of pics of the adventure !


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## TonyBrooklyn (Jan 28, 2010)

Glad you made it safe and sound.:wink2: Enjoy your trip and don't forget to write.:vs_cool:


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## Champagne InHand (Sep 14, 2015)

Nica has been magical with amazing food and such a tranquil country and people. Unfortunately tragedy struck today. I had mouth issues, that ended up in emergency endodontist/oral surgeon surgery as I somehow developed an abscess underneath a tooth that was crowned with a root canal. 

The silver lining is I was in the right place at the right time. The infection was in the mandible and my holiday has been extended. Total cost of 2 dental examinations, radiology, oral surgery and clindamycin was $41US. In a week they will check the healing, the do a bone graft on my mandible. If all goes well they will start a molar implant process, which requires me to return in June, but total cost $400US. In the USA our dental insurance would not cover an implant. I would have had to pay 20% with a maximum of $2500 paid for the year. I would have racked that with the emergency oral surgery and coming bone graft. The implant would not be an option as molar implants cost $3000+. 

I guess I should consider myself lucky as Nica is a country with dental care tourism and the doctors are trained well and internationally. The price difference blows my mind. An X-Ray cost less than $6US. 

My wife gas been supportive and is trying not to freak out. So for at least a week I need to get rest and relaxation, but the rest of the time I might still be able to go to Estelí. I can still do museums and even go to the beaches on the Pacific. After the swelling goes down I can start eating the solid food again and León has some of the best food of any city. Tonight and tomorrow it's liquids and soft foods. 

Still I have fallen in love with Leon. I could easily live here. The place is so tranquilo and the heat is fairly dry with a breeze. The people are super friendly and alway up to learn English while you learn Nicanol, which is quite different than many other Latin American Spanish. This city is so laid back. 

I am definitely going to come back on a regular basis. While Granada is a pretty colonial city, Leon is where my heart is. From the universities, to the museums, cathedrals, 14 volcanoes in the distance, beaches >30 km away and just Graf and inexpensive dining and super friendly people. 

So unless I can load tapatalk on my travel phone, much of the pictures will have to wait. 

Even with the bad dental issue, this has been one of my best vacation. My wife is understanding and supportive in my judgement, which helps. If I was on an island I would have had to be medevacuated back to the states. I do miss my hound dog, but he's fine at the farm. 

I'll keep you updated but won't know much for a week. 


Funny but it actually takes more time and patience to not listen and speak in Nica Spanish. It has many more words that sound like the root English words and some words that are so different that Mexican. Dominican, Argentine or Spanish from Spain. TH,eh do drop the Ss on many words but the people will help you out as they want to learn English. 

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## Chris80 (Sep 19, 2015)

Champagne InHand said:


> Nica has been magical with amazing food and such a tranquil country and people. Unfortunately tragedy struck today. I had mouth issues, that ended up in emergency endodontist/oral surgeon surgery as I somehow developed an abscess underneath a tooth that was crowned with a root canal.
> 
> The silver lining is I was in the right place at the right time. The infection was in the mandible and my holiday has been extended. Total cost of 2 dental examinations, radiology, oral surgery and clindamycin was $41US. In a week they will check the healing, the do a bone graft on my mandible. If all goes well they will start a molar implant process, which requires me to return in June, but total cost $400US. In the USA our dental insurance would not cover an implant. I would have had to pay 20% with a maximum of $2500 paid for the year. I would have racked that with the emergency oral surgery and coming bone graft. The implant would not be an option as molar implants cost $3000+.
> 
> ...


Daaaaamn that's insane! Luckily like you said you were in the right place at the right time. Glad aside from the tooth you are having a great time! Be safe and get better! Enjoy the weather! Esteli....you lucky dog....

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## Kidvegas (Oct 17, 2016)

Less money on dental is more money for cigars:vs_cool:. Seriously glad your ok. Nica sure sounds like an awesome place. Sucks about the photos we'll all just have to wait. 


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## UBC03 (Nov 18, 2015)

Feel better.. Enjoy the rest of adventure..be safe


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## pwaggs (Jan 10, 2017)

Wow, amazing update. Sorry about your tooth. Happy your wife is hanging in there. Take care.

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## Rondo (Sep 9, 2015)

Sounds like you're making the best out of a tough situation.
Remember, no smoking with an open wound in your mouth.


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## Regiampiero (Jan 18, 2013)

Wow! That sucks, but I admire your outlook and focusing on the positive side of life. 
P.S. those prices just goes to show how much is wrong with our healthcare system. 

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## Joe Sticks (May 31, 2016)

How fortunate that you were in the perfect place for this to happen. Maybe the Man Upstairs was looking out for you. May the rest of your trip go well. I'm sure all of us Puffers look forward to your updates. -


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## Champagne InHand (Sep 14, 2015)

So I took the chicken bus twice yesterday. A school bus that seats 44, but they cram so many people standing that there are another 40 or so people standing in the aisle pressed body to body. It's insane. I thought of riding up to Estelí for the day, but 3 hours on the chicken bus followed by 2-3 hours touring the CGI factory, then another 3 hour ride in the chicken bus all in 98F weather sounds pretty miserable. 

Besides, the prices after the trip save you maybe $30, and come with no boxes or cigar bands. It's a much better deal to buy in North America. It's strange that very few people carry cigars made in Estelí outside of Estelí. A few specialty shops in Managua, which is a complete toilet, but you can find Mombacho and some locally made brand from some other cities. 12 cigars that a 4.5"x44 rg runs $60 including a mahogany box. No real value at $5, but they are damn fine cigars. 

I think I will buy Joya de Nicaragua at the airport, if the price is right and since I have smoked through my Illusione cigars I brought and am down to 6 Boli PC in the box, I will spend the $60. 

I saw up close and personal, a barrio (neighborhood) riddled by poverty where the houses are but one room approximately 12'x12' with corrugated Tim walls that are full of holes and have sharp tears in places. The gaps between roof and sides are big. During the rain water just pours in. The use wood to fuel their kitchen stove which resemble a charcoal stove at a campground. A single dangling electric wire comes in and has a simple cheap fan spliced in, one light bulb and one socket all held together with electric tape. One pipe of water that has and outdoors type faucet with 3 plastic chairs you might find at Wal-mart. The have 2 plastic hampers for clothing storage. The mom has one and the two girls share one. 

However, the lady leaves at 4-5am and comes to the city to sell post cards and converse in Spanish/Nicanol to improve a gringos command of daily usage in Spanish. 

I bought here rice and beans that will feed here family for about 2 weeks for under $20, with a bag of onions and some oregano. The house needs much work. Barbed wire and doubles as a clothesline. It's just very sad. The men are quite worthless. The younger guys from the more urban barrios would rather sit in the shade, doing nothing but straight out telling you to give them a dollar, with attitude. 

There is a job fair and people will pay for labor on the houses, but few men will actually do the hard labor. Sure there are some who bust their humps, but too many are completely lazy and stuck in feeling sorry for themselves. 

Really seeing the really bad poverty that makes it similar to Haiti, was sad. Of course medical and dental care here is decent and budget priced, if you can scrape those dollars together. The chicken buses are owned by the same people that own the ferreterías or hardware stores. It's a racket. The few are extremely wealthy employing thugs, and the masses do there best to get by. Things are slowly improving. Democracy here just doesn't work well. Some places are just not ready for that. An elected dictator at least know what they are doing to make things a bit better. 

I will have some pictures later on. Just disturbingly sad. 


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## Kidvegas (Oct 17, 2016)

Your a solid Dude for helping out the locals bro. That woman and youself will remember that for ever. 

Third world countries like the one your visiting, where there is no government assistance for food or housing brings the real meaning to being poor. 

Reminds me a lot of the stories i hear from many of the young men i work with who come from similar circumstances. Digging holes with spaded shovels and no shoes, comes to mind. Being hungry even though your working all day because the pay ain't s***. Plus going home at the end of the day to your family that just as depressed and hungry for food and something better than what they got. 

My girlfriend comes from a place almost the same as where you are so I've heard the stories from her and the family. Very eye opening when i consider the people in this country who claim poverty which im sure they are are in, but walk around with cell phones and brand new nike shoes and are 40 pounds over weight. The people in Nica I'm sure would gladly change places . 

Glad your having a good time and hope you stay safe bro. 


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## MidwestToker (Sep 14, 2016)

Thanks for sharing your adventure. I hope there are no more hiccups. I can imagine how eye-opening of an experience that must be. Americans are a lucky bunch.


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## MidwestToker (Sep 14, 2016)

Regiampiero said:


> Wow! That sucks, but I admire your outlook and focusing on the positive side of life.
> P.S. those prices just goes to show how much is wrong with our healthcare system.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk


If you focus on delivering one thing inexpensively, it's fairly easy to do. Much like Cuba, Nicaragua has focused on inexpensive health care. However, their government and private sector industries are failing their citizens by not providing basic necessities like clean water, jobs, food, safety and complex infrastructure.

I think cheap health care is a way for corrupt governments to appear humane. Meanwhile, people are living in slums and the crime rates are through the roof.

I'm not saying our health care system doesn't need a lot of work, because it does, but I just don't think these comparisons compute.


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## Champagne InHand (Sep 14, 2015)

Just an update. I fly home Thursday and make the drive back from DTW. It has been like a season of some bizarre guest house reality show, but very, very educational. 

For those of you who think you might be safer doing the all-inclusive DE tour that picks you up in an AC shuttle out of MGA or across the Border in Honduras, an insider's note, that the shuttle was hijacked less than 2weeks ago, filled with very anxious travelers. It ended without any violence, but a payment of $7000US was made in cash by the tour operation group, to secure the release of the shuttle, its driver and occupants. They did get to keep their luggage, but most just didn't want to continue and demanded refunds. 

That stuff happens all of the time in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras because the gangs own that turf, but it's extremely rare here. Travel insurance is a must. You can buy annual travel insurance from a very good company in the States, called RoamRight, but I recommend looking at the options through Squaremouth.com as they have a zero complaints policy. I waived trip cancelation and included, secondary health, dental and Evan insurance which also included trip delay, covering missed flights, weather, baggage and trip interruption. Total cost was $30. I'm going to buy their annual package for $192/yr. It covers 3 trips out of the states per year of up to3-4 weeks per trip. 

Most of my out of pocket should be reimbursed, after my primary health insurance denies or pays their tiny portion. 

Anyhow it's been a trip filled with Sun, beach towns, colonial cities, Esteli, which is a departmente (similar to a state,) and the city of Estelí is the main city, but the major part of the city isn't on the Pan American hwy. 

Managua is a toilet as far as I am concerned. I have finally acclimated and tanned. The biting insects are kind of annoying but you learn to stat indoors during their most active hour. The Aegis mosquito is the carrier of malaria and Zika, and are really small black beasts that hide under chairs and tables by day. Annoying but they are everywhere tropical. 

The Nica people are quite short. I felt like a tower walking around, and if over 2m tall you have to watch out for second floor porches, barbed wires, and duck on a regular basis. The people are amazingly friendly but in the department of Esteli, you get drunken cowboys and here "******, ******," a lot. Like any poverty stricken area you see tons of horrible stories, panhandlers and such, but the food in León , is cheap and so good. Decent lager beer for about $1US per bottle in restaurants and bars. Fruit is plentiful as is great street food. Pork or chicken tacos, rolled, fried, and served with thinly sliced cabbage, fresh, sweet mountain cream and some chopped onions, lime juice and a touch of chili powder costs less than $3 for 3 and the fixings. Salvadoran pupusas another great fare run about $25c delivered. 

This really was so much better than being cooped up in sub-freezing temperatures and filled with cabin fever and lack of vitamin D. I walked all over averaging about 15-20kms/day, but cabs anywhere in the city are about a dollar. More after dark, but it's actually safe if dusty and a bit dirty at day's end. The street cleaners come out after midnight. 

I have met hundreds of backpackers, professionals from Europe and Canada, just enjoying everything there is too offer. Forget hot water. Almost completely unnecessary as it's quite hot and the water isn't cold to begin with. It's so refreshing taking a couple of good rinse offs per day. 

The super markets are reasonable and have most modern amenities, so buy it here if it's less than $20/item. Mossies here are not bothered by DEET. The gnats actually bothered me more but they are worse in the Carolinas and American South. 

Really this was a great experience. I have tons of photos I hope to upload when I get home. Taking an iPad was fine. Streaming Netflix and such works just fine, but with so many hostals look for a guest house/BnB for a buck or two more per night. Rates go down as length of stay increase. 

Chicken buses were horrible to begin with, but I'm tall. Now I like them especially the express buses were you have an assigned seat. Valuable places to exchange info with fellow travelers, whether backpackers, old hippies, or just practical vacationers. 


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## Champagne InHand (Sep 14, 2015)

I'm home safe and sound but unbelievably jet lagged. I will get to pictures and such. Really the best adventure I've had in a decade or more. Met so many travelers, ex-Pats and great locals. I totally recommend Nica over any other CA country. Crime is minimal. More stealing from backpackers than anything and jack off drivers trying to get ****** fares if you can't understand basic Spanish. 

So much more polite than the vast majority of Mexico or anywhere on the ****** trail. 


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## UBC03 (Nov 18, 2015)

Welcome back..glad everything went well


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## pwaggs (Jan 10, 2017)

This has bee a great little thread. Welcome back. Can't wait to hear more.

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## Chris80 (Sep 19, 2015)

Welcome back old friend! 


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## Ams417 (May 13, 2016)

Welcome back. I'm wrapping up a 10 day trip to Mexico in a couple a days. Nothing like your adventure but I can relate to the great street food and cheap beer. This is my 21st trip to Mexico and we are planning for Belize in the fall possibly. You mentioned pupusa, we have a small population of El Salvadorians in NW Arkansas. I've had pupusa many times, it's delicious and so cheap. Glad you had fun, sorry to hear about the tooth. 


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## Champagne InHand (Sep 14, 2015)

My favorite pupusa is the loroco made with a blossoming flower. I know it sounds weird but there is nothing I can even compare it to. 

I'm going back in the end of Nay-Early June as implants are less than a quarter the price of implants in North America. I'm paying a touch more to have an implant that is FDA approved in case I need any future work done on it in the states. Still a very good endodontist. They are all internationally trained and the rule of thumb while traveling anywhere and needing international dental assistance is to seek out an endodontist. The ret can be scary and use anything from China to Eastern Europe and North American dentists just will not do any work on stuff they can't find good info on. 

Glad you have enjoyed Mexico. We like it too, at least the places off the beaten ****** trails. 

Some Spanish from the free Duolingo app goes a long way. Google translate helps in a pinch too. 


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## poppajon75 (Apr 10, 2016)

Welcome back. I've enjoyed reading about your adventures.


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## Joe Sticks (May 31, 2016)

Welcome back. - - After I read your post mentioning pupusas, I kicked myself. I had lunch at a teriyaki place recently (quite good). But there's a place that makes pupusas that are outstanding. (Cheap too.) The owners are from Central America. I hadn't been there for awhile and thought, "Damn . . .I should've gone there !" 


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## UBC03 (Nov 18, 2015)

@Champagne InHand...I'm finding it very difficult to live vicariously through you with NO PICS.


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## pwaggs (Jan 10, 2017)

Champagne InHand said:


> I'm going back in the end of Nay-Early June as implants are less than a quarter the price of implants in North America. I'm paying a touch more to have an implant that is FDA approved in case I need any future work done on it in the states.


C? D? DD or are you going epic?


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## ivandrocco (Feb 17, 2017)

pics or it didn't happen


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## Champagne InHand (Sep 14, 2015)

ivandrocco said:


> pics or it didn't happen


Oh it happened. I just have to take my SD from my android burner phone and convert to photos. You can see some of my pictures on other threads. I changed my profile picture to me smoking a Mombacho robusto in the stop outside my guesthouse in Leon wearing the Nica fedora I bought for my daughter. I uploaded almost all my pictures to Facebook as that's easy in Nica using a travelers Claro SIM chip that includes Facebook and WhatsApp.

Let me see if I can pull some off my photo stream.

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## Champagne InHand (Sep 14, 2015)

Okay you impatient little hens. These are snaps of Facebook. No tabacaleras but many pictures of the different foods, the abundant volcanoes, the crazy amount of cathedrals, including the white Gran Cathedral of León, biggest in all of Central America and once destined to be built in Lima, Peru. I couldn't copy the videos nor do I know how to post them from tapatalk, Birds, trees, wildlife, chicken bus express, microbús from the Managua UGA station, where you get ripped off. An X-ray of my missing tooth and mandible infection.

So without much order these are them. Blame they guy without patience or trust. The guy with a Tina beer in Otto, in Cafe Luz in Esteli, where you set up visits to Esteli, Tabacalera and the really bright colored snaps of buildings and the public school are in Granada. The volcano lava is Masaya on a night visit.

Here we go and just a taste.

























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## Champagne InHand (Sep 14, 2015)

Salvadoran loroco pupusa.










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## Champagne InHand (Sep 14, 2015)

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## Champagne InHand (Sep 14, 2015)

Just boring food shot near drunk vaqueros in Esteli.









Otto in Cafe Luz, in Esteli. 









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## Champagne InHand (Sep 14, 2015)

Express chicken bus to Esteli. No way to take pictures in a packed chicken bus. 

















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## Champagne InHand (Sep 14, 2015)

Gran Cathedral rooftop. 









Selfie at the top. 


















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## Champagne InHand (Sep 14, 2015)

More topside views. Volcanoes in the backdrops. 

















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## Champagne InHand (Sep 14, 2015)

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## Champagne InHand (Sep 14, 2015)

Life in the corrugated tin huts of the campasinos, terrible to have to live like this but they don't whine, but do their best to get help, which I offered. I'm not scared by poverty just motivated to help a little.


















I got some sealant to fill holes as the rainy season is coming.

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## Champagne InHand (Sep 14, 2015)

These sides needed sealing and I think I walked into and talked with everybody working at the many ferretería in Leon and Esteli. 

















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## Champagne InHand (Sep 14, 2015)

Where a crowned tooth with root canal once existed. At the time a mandíbular infection requiring clindamicina and immediate surgery followed by a bone graph 8 days later.

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## Champagne InHand (Sep 14, 2015)

Inside and the front of the Grand Cathedral of León. 








Inside

















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## Champagne InHand (Sep 14, 2015)

On a rare map, this shows the 14 active volcanoes called Volcano row just North of Leon.

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## Champagne InHand (Sep 14, 2015)

Microbús from Managua's UCA bus station filled with thrives and pickpockets and of course some really nice people. A lady I made friends with coming from Granada almost threw down with 3 different bus drivers trying to charge me 3x the ousted rate.

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## Champagne InHand (Sep 14, 2015)

My pal Señor Chirpy at the Leon guest house. He could say 'hola Chirpy,' 'adiós,' as well as goggle under his breath. He was extremely jealous of anybody talking with Monica la Gordita or the cleaning staff, especially Yasinia, or 'nena' to friends.

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## Champagne InHand (Sep 14, 2015)

This is the fallen heroes monument across from the Grand Cathedral in Leon where I met Maria Elena, selling postales, and giving real history lessons to try and feed her daughters while being proud and not begging. It was her house I rode a packed bus to and try to help out as best I could.

More Iglesias in Leon
















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## Champagne InHand (Sep 14, 2015)

I think the rest is from Granada. 






















Last one is honey I bought for the Casa Del Agua residents and owners. This honey is cultivated in Mombacho. Crazy as Africanized bees infect honey bee colonies all the time. A hazardous profession. From a cage that actually served panini in tourist friendly Granada. Not my favorite place and kind of boring after 3 days.

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## Kidvegas (Oct 17, 2016)

Great pics bro. That Cathedral is beautiful. My girlfriend is of Mexican descent, but every Saturday one Salvadoran lady where we work makes pupusa and everyone buys them. They are spectacular.

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## Champagne InHand (Sep 14, 2015)

Trashy public school where some moron trying to sell Coke at both street corners nearest the school. That's a death penalty offense in Nica.

Sad as most people scrimp and save to send their kids to colegio La Salle in Leon, where I stayed right across from. Great to watch the start of the day 6-7am and the end of the day 6:30p-7:30pm with a cigar on the stoop.

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## Champagne InHand (Sep 14, 2015)

Hendrix still rocks in a second floor discoteca just south of the parque central in Granada.

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## Champagne InHand (Sep 14, 2015)

A different iglesia in Granada, that's just a católica escuela these days and convent. 
















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## UBC03 (Nov 18, 2015)

Great pics bro..thanks


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## Champagne InHand (Sep 14, 2015)

Weird sculptures abound in the walk to the waterfront on Lake Nicaragua 
And of course the boat launch and waves, but you catch a boat to La Isletas, a group of private islands on the lake, some empty with beaches, some with mansions and some with tons of capuchin or howler monkeys. 








The marina

















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## Champagne InHand (Sep 14, 2015)

Very cool trees all over Nica. Banana palms, coconut palms, bitter orange palms, mango trees, are awesome, papaya trees, green limón trees and these mangroves with Spanish moss. 























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## Champagne InHand (Sep 14, 2015)

The trip to a very active Masaya volcano with 4 craters, 2 currently active at sunset was so worth the $20. The town of Masaya is very dirty but it glows neon orange at night and we had a crescent moon with the bright planet Uranus above this glowing pit that's about 100m deep. Pictures just don't do it justice. Only 20 minutes at the top because of sulfur dioxide. Still felt even with Caribbean winds blowing it away from us. 























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## Champagne InHand (Sep 14, 2015)

One more crater shot and the camping area at the bottom. Plenty of creepy crawlers from tarantulas and coral snakes to vampire and fruit bats there. Not for me thanks. 
















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## Champagne InHand (Sep 14, 2015)

Granada Central Park and main Cathedral. Leon and Granada were established in the mid 1500s and bitter rivals. Granada was the fortress holding the loads of ore and pieces of eight from the infamous silver train. It was sacked a few times and Lake Nicaragua had many pirates that branched out living in the islands. Bull sharks infested this Lake even though it's fresh water. The Somoza regime and the Sandanista's hunted them to the point of extinction for the shark fin market and they could terrorize fishermen growing to at least 2m in length. 

























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## Champagne InHand (Sep 14, 2015)

Decent street food in and around the parque central. Gallo Pinto with cerdo (pork) and tostones with meatballs and fried cheese. Mixto.

Plus a shot from the courtyard pool at my guesthouse. $30/night. Sleeps 3 and hot water, though hard to control. 

















Casa del Agua. 









Now you will just have to be patient for the rest. I'm seriously jet lagged, have a hole in my gums that needs 3-4 months to heal. These could have been so much better.

Patience is something required to experience the best things in life, but I get curiosity

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## Ams417 (May 13, 2016)

Nice pictures! Being a person with every tooth in my head crowned due to a birth defect from spinal meningitis as an infant I know how much dental work stinks. I had deformed enamel so it was cosmetic but cost me a fortune. One of my buddies who was here in PV with me just spent three week late last year in Guadalajara getting all his teeth crowned for about $5k. Saved a ton and had a blast too. 


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## Chris80 (Sep 19, 2015)

Champagne InHand said:


> Decent street food in and around the parque central. Gallo Pinto with cerdo (pork) and tostones with meatballs and fried cheese. Mixto.
> 
> Plus a shot from the courtyard pool at my guesthouse. $30/night. Sleeps 3 and hot water, though hard to control.
> 
> ...


Amazing pictures brother! Feel better!

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## Champagne InHand (Sep 14, 2015)

Ams417 said:


> Nice pictures! Being a person with every tooth in my head crowned due to a birth defect from spinal meningitis as an infant I know how much dental work stinks. I had deformed enamel so it was cosmetic but cost me a fortune. One of my buddies who was here in PV with me just spent three week late last year in Guadalajara getting all his teeth crowned for about $5k. Saved a ton and had a blast too.
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Yep. The lady that ran the guesthouse knew this endo. He did work on her Canuck father that would have cost over $32K in North America for under $6K. The price goes down with more than one implant. Her dad did almost his entire mouth. This particular endo won't work on locals. He teaches at the university and this is his greenback slush fund.

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